THE RED UNDERWING. 8l 



the South London Entomological and Natural History Society, 

 held on January lo, 1889, a coloured sketch of a specimen 

 with blue hind wings, taken at Colchester, was exhibited (ab. 

 ccsrulescens, Cockerell). Sometimes the hind wings are a dingy 

 red, or they may incline to an orange tint ; the central black 

 band usually terminates just beyond the middle, but there is 

 often a detached blackish cloud on the inner margin ; and I 

 have two specimens in which the band unites with this cloud. 



The eggs which are deposited on bark of poplar trees, as 

 Fig. 2a on Plate 33, are deep purplish with a whitish bloom, 

 and inclining to yellowish on the top. The caterpillar (Plate 33, 

 Fig. 2) is whitish-grey clouded and mottled with darker 

 brown ; the head is rather paler grey, marked with black. It 

 feeds at night on willow and poplar, and, although rather 

 difficult to detect, may be found in the chinks of the bark from 

 April to July. The pupa is brownish, thickly powdered with 

 bluish-white, and is enclosed in a strong, coarse, cocoon, spun 

 up between leaves. 



The moth is out in August and September, sometimes later, 

 and in confinement has emerged in July. It is more abundant 

 in some years than in others, and is fond of sitting on 

 walls, pales, etc. ; occasionally quite large numbers have been 

 observed at rest on telegraph poles by the roadside, only one on 

 a pole, as a rule, but sometimes in twos and threes. Mr. W. J. 

 Lucas, when at Oxford in August, 1900, counted six on one 

 post, and five on each of two other posts. 



The species is found in suitable localities, that is, where 

 poplars and willows grow, throughout the south and east of 

 England. The only clear record from Ireland is that of a worn 

 specimen at sugar, September 16, 1906, at Passage West, co. 

 Cork ; but Kane mentions two others. 



Represented in North India by var. unicuba^ Walker, and in 

 Amurland by var. obscurata, Oberthiir. 



Series II. e* 



